Kolkata's East-West Metro To Open On Feb 13, Work On Remaining Stretch To Resume Soon
Metro connectivity in Kolkata is set to improve as the Calcutta High Court has now asked the Kolkata Metro officials to restart the tunneling work on the East-West Metro. A part of this corridor will be inaugurated on February 13, 2020. This 5-km stretch between Sector V Salt Lake City and Yuva Bharati Krirangan Stadium would be operational for now, as the work on the rest of the stretch was halted due to an aquifer burst in Bowbazar area in August 2019. While the entire stretch was scheduled for inauguration in June 2021, the work will now resume soon on the remaining part of the corridor. The rail board had given its approval for commercial services on the 5.5-km stretch, on May 20, 2019.
The East-West Metro line has also got additional funding of Rs 905 crore for the next financial year. Other metro routes that have got the funding in the state budget include the New Garia-NSCBI Airport link, scheduled for completion by June 2021, and has been allotted Rs 328 crore. Apart from this, the Noapara-Barasat line has received a grant of Rs 200 crore. The 16.6-km Joka-BBD Bag route, connecting the south- eastern suburbs of Behala with the heart of the city, has been granted Rs 99 crore, and the Barrackpore-Baranagar and Dakshineswar stretch, covering a distance of 14.5 km, allotted Rs 10 crore.
This new train will have six coaches and would run at a maximum speed of 80 km/hr, double the speed limit of 40 km/hr of the existing North-South Metro.
Trains on this stretch will have a frequency of 2.5 minutes during peak hours.
The coaches will be operated by Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) technology from the control room at the KMRC Central Depot at Salt Lake. This will make the driver’s role limited to overseeing passenger movement and opening and closing of doors.
According to Electrical Engineer Prasenjit Chakraborty at KMRC, these coaches would be 2.88-metre wide with a total seating capacity of 268 and standing capacity of 1,782. There will be four CCTVs in different parts of every compartment.
As many as nine trains have been procured by the KMRC from BEML for this route.
KMRC announces new fares
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation has announced a fare increase after a gap of six years. The commuters have to shell out a little extra for traveling a longer distance through the Metro. The new fare will come into effect from December 5, 2019.
Fare chart
Distance | Old fare | New fare |
0-2km | Rs 5 | Rs 5 |
2-5km | Rs 5 | Rs 10 |
5-10km | Rs 10 | Rs 15 |
10-20km | Rs 15 | Rs 20 |
More than 20km | Rs 20 | Rs 25 |
Also Read: All About India's First Underwater Metro Tunnel